Blog post
Elections and food
The Euro crisis reigns in the Netherlands' elections: but does this "E" word leave room for food in the election manifestos? I have to confess that I suffer from a professional deformation. Nevertheless, since food is such an everyday, universal and vital issue a review of the election manifestos from a food perspective is certainly of relevance.
Although I am particularly interested in the standpoints of the parties aiming to take part in a coalition government, I begin with a party that isn't: the Party for the Animals. Their election manifesto actually begins with sustainable food and makes dozens of further references to food. Their manifesto devotes a great deal of attention to measures designed to reduce the consumption of meat and wastage of food. Consumer-awareness needs to be generated to promote the public's willingness to pay 'fair' prices for food and eat more vegetables and fruit.
The Green Left Party adopts a similar standpoint: the Green Left Party also devotes attention to the restoration of the ties between farmers and the public, measures to combat the wastage of food, improved food information and education, price increases for meat and fish and the promotion of a weekly meat-free day. Neither the left nor right-wing party manifestos refer to a governmental promotion of a vegetarian day, although the Socialist Party's wish list does include the government's promotion of organic food and encouragement of research into meat-replacement products. The Labour Party's manifesto makes no mention of eating meat or reducing meat consumption.
The Socialist Party's manifesto shares the concerns of those of the Green Left Party and Party for the Animals about our frequent lack of attention to buying, eating or throwing away food. Both the Socialist Party and Green Left Party manifestos are explicit about the need to control snack and sweet advertisements targeting children. The Labour Party's manifesto says nothing about these issues. Any references the Labour Party's manifesto actually does make to food are usually in relation to poverty in the Netherlands (food banks) and in developing countries (assurances for food supplies). The Christian Union Party's manifesto approaches the food issue in a similar manner. The Labour Party and Christian Union Party manifestos also share their emphasis on regional food and their single reference to the need to strengthen the position of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, a wish shared by the Socialist Party and the Party for the Animals.
The Democrats 66 Party's manifesto makes virtually no references to food: food is mentioned only in connection with the production of biofuels, which may not be detrimental to food supplies. The Democrats 66 Party's manifesto, in analogy with those of the Green Left Party, Christian Union Party and Party for the Animals, advocates an increase in meat prices to offset the environmental impact of meat production: the polluter will pay for meat's large ecological footprint by imposing a 'kilo super tax' (high VAT rate) on meat.
The general purport of the Labour Party manifesto's paragraph n agriculture is comparable to that of the Christian Democratic Alliance's manifesto: sustainable and food are two words used in conjunction, but without returning to the times of the former Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Ms Gerda Verburg. The Christian Democratic Alliance's manifesto devotes more energy - and emotions - to the agricultural sector than to food. This is also the case - and to an even greater extent - in the Party for Freedom and Democracy's manifesto, which refers solely to the economic (competitive) position of the agricultural sector: food is, in effect, a non-issue. The Party for Freedom's manifesto makes no reference to food.
So what does this review reveal? First of all, the election manifestos devote more attention to bringing up children as an issue which gives food for thought than food itself – in particular, the Christian Union Party's manifesto. Although for me, as the father of three young children, bringing up children plays a pivotal role in my private life I still find it painful to see that food - a keyword in my research life - receives less attention. Nevertheless, there is political attention for food. Many parties endorse food's importance as a primary necessity of life (Party for the Animals, Socialist Party, Labour Party and Christian Democratic Alliance), before rapidly moving on to food supplies at home and abroad - as though an abundance of food is not an issue or a problem. It's odd that not all the parties view food from this perspective. After all, food is not a left or right-wing issue, is it? Surely food is not an issue exclusively for the Party for the Animals and the Green Left Party?
These last two parties, in particular, are the voices heard loudest in the political arena of the silent. If they succeed in setting the tone then the Euro crisis theme might well be succeeded by food as the key issue in future elections. I can see it all before me: politicians and political party leaders who try to outdo each other in the presentation of their culinary preferences and viewpoints on food, who make every effort to unfurl their perception of our gastronomic culture in explaining our Dutch society, who we are, what we stand for and the direction the world is taking, who see food as a crucial link between People and Planet and, as a result, highlight sustainability from the perspective of food consumption and production, who link the nation's fitness and resilience directly to food in its role as the cause of obesity, who measure social cohesion in terms of the variety of gastronomic styles and eating meals together, and who present our food economy as the pivot of the Netherlands' competitive strength, knowledge and innovation. Now that really would be an appetising campaign.
The Green Left Party adopts a similar standpoint: the Green Left Party also devotes attention to the restoration of the ties between farmers and the public, measures to combat the wastage of food, improved food information and education, price increases for meat and fish and the promotion of a weekly meat-free day. Neither the left nor right-wing party manifestos refer to a governmental promotion of a vegetarian day, although the Socialist Party's wish list does include the government's promotion of organic food and encouragement of research into meat-replacement products. The Labour Party's manifesto makes no mention of eating meat or reducing meat consumption.
The Socialist Party's manifesto shares the concerns of those of the Green Left Party and Party for the Animals about our frequent lack of attention to buying, eating or throwing away food. Both the Socialist Party and Green Left Party manifestos are explicit about the need to control snack and sweet advertisements targeting children. The Labour Party's manifesto says nothing about these issues. Any references the Labour Party's manifesto actually does make to food are usually in relation to poverty in the Netherlands (food banks) and in developing countries (assurances for food supplies). The Christian Union Party's manifesto approaches the food issue in a similar manner. The Labour Party and Christian Union Party manifestos also share their emphasis on regional food and their single reference to the need to strengthen the position of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, a wish shared by the Socialist Party and the Party for the Animals.
The Democrats 66 Party's manifesto makes virtually no references to food: food is mentioned only in connection with the production of biofuels, which may not be detrimental to food supplies. The Democrats 66 Party's manifesto, in analogy with those of the Green Left Party, Christian Union Party and Party for the Animals, advocates an increase in meat prices to offset the environmental impact of meat production: the polluter will pay for meat's large ecological footprint by imposing a 'kilo super tax' (high VAT rate) on meat.
The general purport of the Labour Party manifesto's paragraph n agriculture is comparable to that of the Christian Democratic Alliance's manifesto: sustainable and food are two words used in conjunction, but without returning to the times of the former Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Ms Gerda Verburg. The Christian Democratic Alliance's manifesto devotes more energy - and emotions - to the agricultural sector than to food. This is also the case - and to an even greater extent - in the Party for Freedom and Democracy's manifesto, which refers solely to the economic (competitive) position of the agricultural sector: food is, in effect, a non-issue. The Party for Freedom's manifesto makes no reference to food.
So what does this review reveal? First of all, the election manifestos devote more attention to bringing up children as an issue which gives food for thought than food itself – in particular, the Christian Union Party's manifesto. Although for me, as the father of three young children, bringing up children plays a pivotal role in my private life I still find it painful to see that food - a keyword in my research life - receives less attention. Nevertheless, there is political attention for food. Many parties endorse food's importance as a primary necessity of life (Party for the Animals, Socialist Party, Labour Party and Christian Democratic Alliance), before rapidly moving on to food supplies at home and abroad - as though an abundance of food is not an issue or a problem. It's odd that not all the parties view food from this perspective. After all, food is not a left or right-wing issue, is it? Surely food is not an issue exclusively for the Party for the Animals and the Green Left Party?
These last two parties, in particular, are the voices heard loudest in the political arena of the silent. If they succeed in setting the tone then the Euro crisis theme might well be succeeded by food as the key issue in future elections. I can see it all before me: politicians and political party leaders who try to outdo each other in the presentation of their culinary preferences and viewpoints on food, who make every effort to unfurl their perception of our gastronomic culture in explaining our Dutch society, who we are, what we stand for and the direction the world is taking, who see food as a crucial link between People and Planet and, as a result, highlight sustainability from the perspective of food consumption and production, who link the nation's fitness and resilience directly to food in its role as the cause of obesity, who measure social cohesion in terms of the variety of gastronomic styles and eating meals together, and who present our food economy as the pivot of the Netherlands' competitive strength, knowledge and innovation. Now that really would be an appetising campaign.